Only You
After soaking up some sun, savoring the laughter, and tasting the goodness of delicious food, I was packing up the whirlwind created by our expanded, precious family this summer. And all I could humbly hear my heart saying as we all parted ways was, “Only You, Lord.” All the things I had sat at my Heavenly Father’s feet and prayed over just flooded my thoughts. I could barely categorize it, breathing between us a quiet whisper, “Only You.”
We enjoyed a newly marked 60th birthday measured next to a newborn and two-year-old we desperately prayed safety over. We celebrated another upcoming marriage this year and everything in between—from aging moms who have lived and loved well and are growing older gratefully, to missing dads who haven’t been able to enjoy the aging alongside us. Only You, Lord could have orchestrated more than I could have asked for, and wouldn’t have known how to ask, but am now delightfully celebrating.
I have been reminded in study this summer that only the Lord sees the inner parts of each of us. He fully knows every thought, fear, hope, need, joy, and deepest concern of our hearts. This is our unique intimacy with Him. Psalm 37: 23-24 says, “It’s the Lord who directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they may stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand.” Our human vision can only, at best, capture what is seen in others. Only He fully knows the inner places and has created what none of us can comprehend. Our estimations are limited and His never are.
Only the Lord fully knows every thought, fear, hope, need, joy, and deepest concern of our hearts.
How should this lead us to trust Him more in the places where we don’t have answers? Actually, why do we think we need the answers? How can we sacrificially love others He calls us to love, even those who we would rather relegate to someone else?
I believe it’s by arriving at a humble position and acknowledging “Only You” can do this through me; I can’t and sometimes just won’t. If I fail to trust Him more, I run the risk of missing days when my heart can remember places where only He could and I couldn’t. My limited timeframe is impatient at first, but in His goodness, His Spirit calls my attention to stop and consider the deeper and often longer work He is up to.
Andrew Murray wrote, “Letting the glory of the all-glorious God be everything to you, you will be freed from the glory of men and of self and be content and glad to be nothing. Out of this nothingness you will grow strong in faith, giving all glory to God, and you will find that the deeper you sink in humility before Him, the nearer He is to fulfill every desire of your faith.”
My encouragement for us is to take the deep breath times to allow Him to settle our confidence in trusting what He is building and rest in what Only He will do.
